No. 2 seed Sam Querrey won his fourth title of the year in LA Sunday, beating Andy Murray for the first time in five meetings 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-3 for the Farmers Classic title. Querrey successfully defended his title from 2010, improving to 4-1 in finals this year.
ADHEREL
Querrey added to his 2010 titles in Memphis (d. John Isner), Belgrade (d. Isner) and Queen’s Club (d. Mardy Fish). Querrey saved a match point against Murray.

Americans Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan made history by winning a record-breaking 62nd doubles title with a 6-7(6), 6-2, 10-7 victory over Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer. The 32-year-old twins were appearing in their 100th final, breaking the record they held with Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde. “It’s been an emotional ride, talking about it every day for the past couple of months,” Bob Bryan said. “To finally do it is incredible. There were definitely nerves out there and those guys were playing great. It was a very hard fought match. Our legs felt like jelly, arms spaghetti.”

ATP Studena Croatia Open
Umag, Croatia

Former No. 1 and No. 4-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero defeated unseeded Italian Potito Starace 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday for the ATP Studena Croatia Open title. “I’m very happy about this tournament,” Ferrero said. “It gives me a lot of confidence to go and practice on hard now. It was an amazing week. I had a bit of pain in my knee but I kept motivated and it was great to come through. It was the fourth final I’ve played this year and I’ve won three tournaments so it’s a great feeling.”

In the doubles final the unseeded team of Friedl/Polasek upset No. 2 seeds Cermak/Mertinak 6-3, 7-6(7).

Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad
Gstaad, Switzerland

Spaniard Nicolas Almagro won his second title in three weeks in Gstaad, defeating Richard Gasquet in the final 7-5, 6-1 for the Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad title. Almagro’s win follows Bastad two weeks ago, where he beat Robin Soderling in the final.

Almagro says his 2010 year-end goal is to now “reach the Top 10 and stay there.” “I played my best tennis today,” Almagro said. “I returned well and served amazingly. The altitude doesn’t make it easier here, but it’s nice to face that challenge. I realized during the first set that Richard had trouble with his serve.”

Bank of the West Classic
Stanford, Calif., USA

Victoria Azarenka thumped former No. 1 Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-1 for her first title of the year Sunday, raising the Bank of the West Classic trophy.

The No. 8-seeded Azarenka, turning 21 this week, won her fourth career title, all in the last two years. Sharapova was trying to add to titles at Memphis and Strasbourg this year. “This is one of the best, definitely,” Azarenka said. “I’m really excited to compete with so many great players. It’s exciting to go out and show my spirit.”

Istanbul Cup
Istanbul, Turkey

Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won her second career title on Sunday at Istanbul, defeating fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 5-7, 7-5, 6-4. The teen No. 3 seed rebounded after the first-set loss to win the three-hour, 10-minute tussle.

The 24-year-old Vesnina ended a seven-match losing streak at Istanbul. Eleni Daniilidou and Jasmin Woehr won their first tour title in the doubles final, defeating top seeds Maria Kondratieva and Vladimira Uhlirova 6-4, 1-6, 11-9.

Querrey played an unbelievable match today. It was probably the most entertaining tennis match I’ve seen in months as I’ve suffered through a slew of blowout finals this summer. These two really wanted this title despite its small stature and it showed. I have been thoroughly impressed with Sam this entire week with his ability to fight off pressure points and he had to do so today plenty of times.

Again Murray played his brand of defensive tennis as he’s shown repeatedly over the past year or so… just not going to get it done in the big matches IMO. Querrey may have taken a huge step to joining the top 10 today, he certainly has the game, now his mental game is coming along as well. If only he could put it together in the major tournaments.

Ty is exactly right! Nice job Sam! You’ve come a long way since I watched you win your first professsional title while you were still in high school! Keep up the great work on the tour … you’ve got what it takes to go all the way!